A COMPASSIONATE SPY
In 1944, at the ripe age of 18, Harvard undergraduate Ted Hall was recruited as a physicist to participate in a secret government program to create a nuclear weapon before the Germans were able to. It was known as the Manhattan Project. Fearing for the implications of a world where only one global superpower held the most powerful weapon in existence, Hall secretly began passing key nuclear information to the Russians. After World War II, Hall met and married a young activist named Joan with whom he shared his secrets, condemning them both to a life and love that would always be somewhat on the run. Told in loving detail from interviews with Joan and their friends, as well as lush re-creations, A Compassionate Spy is both an age-old story of a passionate marriage and a timely documentary with themes of conviction and nuclear ethics. Director Steve James (Hoop Dreams) brings his signature intimacy and humanity to the lensing of a remarkable love story almost 80 years in the making.
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